Today I'm starting to review Welcome to Tranquility (issues 1 thru 12 and Welcome to Tranquility: Armageddon one-shot). I'm splitting this review into four posts for the sake of not making one giant post that nobody will read that's a bazillion paragraphs long. Sometime next week I plan to put up Part Two and the following week Part Three with the Part Four finale one week later.
The first twelve issues make up the Welcome to Tranquility limited series which was written by Gail Simone (currently writer of Secret Six and Wonder Woman and previously writer of Birds of Prey and Gen13). Neil Googe was the main artist for the twelve issue mini series issues. Carrie Strachan and Travis Lanham provided colors and letters, respectively. Welcome to Tranquility: Armageddon was writen by Christos Gage with art by Neil Googe and Horacio Domingues. Carrie Strachan and Travis Lanham provided colors and letters once again. Welcome to Tranquility was created by Gail Simone.
If you don't already have the issues you can pick up the Book One trade paperback that has issues 1-6 collected with a Worldstorm Preview Story. The trade is priced at $19.99 USD. Book Two is another trade that has issues 7-12 collected and is also priced at $19.99 USD. Welcome to Tranquility: Armageddon can be found in the Wildstorm: Armageddon trade paperback which collects all the Armageddon one-shots written by Christos Gage priced at $17.99 USD. If you want go to cheaper or if you prefer single issues I imagine most of these issues can be found in a dollar box at some local comic shops.
Without going into every single detail (that would make this blog how long!?) I'll give you the necessary information to get through the storyline and hopefully get you to where you feel like you got the information you would like from me or maybe even get you to go out and buy it at the store if you don't have it already. Best way to support a book publisher is to buy the books, right? That said, I also understand we're all going through tough times right now economically and we can't just walk into a store and buy whatever we want whenever we want. If you don't have the desire or the budget to buy this title that's perfectly fine. Part of why I am writing this blog is to help bridge the gap for the people that don't have the time or the money to be buying and reading all these books. With the internet it's gotten much easier to follow a comic publisher without buying all the comics. Between forums, podcasts and blogs it's now easier than ever to keep up with everything.
Let's start with the introduction written on the back of the trade which reads:
"Tranquility is like any other small town in America, except for one fundamental difference-it's the town where super-powered beings go in order to retire and raise families. From the Golden Age to the Modern Age, heroes and villains alike reside in Tranquility, and it creates a unique blend of personalities and conflicts that causes the local law enforcement nothing but headaches. As a camera crew is in town to film a news segment on this unique place, the town is turned upside down by a murder...and it becomes evident that all isn't as quaint as it seems!"
In Part Two I'll cover issues 1-6, in Part Three I'll cover issues 7-12 and in Part Four I'll finish up with Welcome to Tranquility: Armageddon and a wrap-up.
I hope you enjoy the upcoming reviews and if you have an idea for a future review feel free to leave a comment! After Tranquility I was thinking about going back to the beginning of Wildstorm and doing the WildC.A.T.S Trilogy or the WildC.A.T.S/Cyberforce crossover.
In my next post I plan to focus on the small but dedicated Wildstorm fandom. I will share some information about podcasts, internet forums and share some various links to help you stay current with all things Wildstorm. There's lots out there to check out! If you have any information or links you would like to share leave a comment and I will try and work them into my post.
I acutally didn't get to read Welcome to Tranquility #1-12 until after I read WTT: Armageddon. Somehow I missed the fact that the original series was set in the WSU and by the time I realized it, the series was almost done. But after tracking down the back issues I quickly understood why everyone loved it. And I love how it fit nicely into WS history too.
ReplyDelete